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Sunday, November 13, 2011

flask review

I was recently contacted by Red Envelope (who I met at BlogHer - funny how many BlogHer-related posts I'm doing lately) about doing a review of one of their products. I really wanted to review these customizable throw pillows, because they come with cute pictures of states, and I thought it would be fun to have a Washington or Minnesota pillow and a California pillow for our home. Sadly, there was a bit of miscommunication, and the only pillows to choose from were text-only, and I don't really care for the text-on-pillow thing. Doesn't really go with our decor.

Anyway, they were nice enough to let me select something else, so I selected a flask. Why not? We don't own one, and Will actually drinks things like gin straight out of a flask, and I figured it would be good for us to take to games and tailgates and whatnot to mix with other stuff. All alcohol-drinking adults should have flasks, right?

So part of the deal with receiving this product was that I have to write a review, and link you to some stuff. Maybe that means I'm selling out a little bit, so sorry if you never want to read this blog again, but oh well. Kimmy wanted a free flask, so there you go. Red Envelope is a good place to go if you're looking for personalized bar gifts (like, say, a flask), or any leather gifts, really. But honestly, they have a whole lot of stuff to choose from in their catalogue. So check 'em out.

The flask (actually flasks...they accidentally sent me two - bonus?) is pretty good. We don't really have any other flasks to compare them to, and our flask experience is pretty low, but it works. The leather is glued on in a way that is a liiiiitle bit cheap; I thought you had to remove the leather to clean the flask, and it came apart easily as I tried to take it off -- clearly, I wasn't supposed to rip the glue, and luckily I only did a little corner before realizing this. It has silly debossed writing on it, so it's not necessarily the classy gift-type flask (unless your classy recipient would laugh at the "damn fool" message on the bottom there), but we don't mind that. We need to get a smaller funnel, because our funnels are all a little too big, and it's hard to pour without spilling -- it would be nice if it came with a funnel. Do any flasks come with a funnel? Are you just supposed to have a steady hand?

Overall, a decent flask I think. Ours didn't come personalized, so I can't speak to the quality of that, but Will's used his twice already and, when prompted for a review, said, "It's fine." And that's about all I need from a flask, really. Nothing fancy, a comfortable fit in the pocket, not too heavy, and easy to use. I mean, it's a flask, right?

Am I missing something? Any flask aficionados out there with opinions or things I should be looking for in any future flask selection?

5 comments:

Pretty sure you're just supposed to have a steady hand. I've never bought a flask that came with a funnel. :) We don't use ours often, but they do come in handy at times! I mostly use mine while snowboarding. Nothing like a nip of jager to warm you up on the ski lift! LOL

How's the seal? does it use a rubber gasket? Can you hold it upside-down indefinitely without leakage? If you toss it in your purse, does it get unscrewed by friction? Is it stainless steel? (composites tend to absorb odours and flavours) I won't ask about its heat retention because it's a hip flask, not a soup flask, but I would seek out a plain flask with a removable or interchangeable cover so I could wash it without the leather getting mushy. It discolours so easily when wet.

The seal seems ok, thought it's just a screw on (no rubber gasket). I haven't tossed it in my purse, but Will has carried it in his pocket and tucked it into his waistband (since they don't check there) with no leakage. The leather seems to be holding up ok with washings, and if it turns out it gets discolored, we'll just live with it. :P It would be nice if it snapped or velcro'd or magnet-ed or something so it was removable.